Читать книгу Irish Whiskey: Ireland’s best-known and most-loved whiskeys - Gary Quinn - Страница 15
ОглавлениеCONTACT: Drioglann Oilean Acla, Bunnacurry, Achill Island, County Mayo
WEBSITE: irishamericanwhiskeys.com
DESCRIPTION: Working distillery
A red carpet and Scottish bagpipes heralded the arrival of two copper stills on Achill Island in September 2018 from Speyside in Scotland, where they were manufactured. Drioglann Oilean Acla, as their new home is officially named in the Irish language, is the first distillery to open on an island here. It also lies within the Gaeltacht, that part of Ireland where Irish is still the first language. Owned by the Irish American Trading Company, the distillery and its visitor centre will form part of the fledgling Gaeltacht Distillery Trail, as well as being a major tourist attraction in its own right.
These days, Achill is often approached along the 42 km greenway, which links the Atlantic island to Westport in County Mayo. The greenway was built along the route of a disused railway line and is a hugely popular cycling and walking trail, which cuts through some of the most dramatic landscape in the country.
The Irish American Trading Company, a family-owned business founded by John McKay in 2014, with offices in Dublin and Boston, invested some €4 million in the project. Its master distiller, David Hynes, is also a director of the Great Northern Distillery. Currently, they use sourced whiskey to produce their two whiskeys, which are already available in twenty-six US States.